Railway-signal-recording device.



N. @e W. E. LOMBARD.

RAILWAY SIGNAL RECORDLNG DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED PEB. 8. I904. IIENEwED APR. 3, 1915.

Patented Nov. 2, 1915.

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N. 6L W. E. LOMBARD. A

RAILWAY SIGNAL RECORDING DEVICE.

APPucATloN man FE.a.19o4. RENEwEn APB.3.1915.

1 ,1 58,821 Patented Nov. 2, 1915.

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N. & W. E. LOMBARD.

RAILWAY SIGNAL RECORDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 8. 1904. RENEWED APR. 3. I9I5.

Patented Nov. 2, 1915.

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effe?? alhamlel Lombard, Waller E. Lombard,

by Mamm luy' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NATHANIEL LOMBARD, F WORCESTER, AND WALTER E. LOMBARD, 0F ARLINGTON,

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RAILWAY-SIGNAL-RECOBDING- DEVICE.

Specification. of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 2, 1915.

Application led February 8, 1904, Serial No. 192,643. Renewed April 3, 1915. Serial No. 19,057.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, NATHANIEL LOMBARD and W'ALTER E. LOMBARD, citizens of the place of operation and a duplicate record being made in a central station.

It fui-ther consists in recording the exact time a train passes each movablemember and it consists mainly in a recording device comprising in part a record member having imprinted thereon suitable marks designat- V ing periods of time co-acting with two record-producing members, one of which is actuated by the passing of a train and the other of Whichis actuated by the operation of said movable member.v

The aim of the invention is to produce a record showing the exact point any switch,

signal, or other danger-warning device may be at the time of the passage of a train.

Heretofore, in block systems, danger signals have been exposed to view to indicate to the engine driver that there is danger ahead and that the train should not enter upon said block until the signal was again operated to show that the tracks were clear. Often times accidents have happened and testimony of the engine, drivers, firemen, and other train hands responsible for the accident, has been that the danger signal was mit exposed and that the signal wasin a position to indicate a clear track and heretofore it has often been impossible to controvert this testimony. To obviate this diliiculty and produce a positive record which will show conclusively the exact posit-ion any switch, signal, drawbridge, or other movable member adapted to regulate the movement of Ytrains at the time of the passing of a f train is the object of this invention, and it will be readily understood by reference to the description of the drawings and to the claims to be hereinafter given. v

O f the drawings: Figure 1 represents a sectional view of a recording device embodying the features of this invention. Fig.Y 2 represents a sectional elevation of the same. Fig. 3 represents an elevation of' a semaphore showing the contact devices therefor. Fig. f1 represents a section of a rail showing the contact devices therefor adapted to be operated by a passing train. Figs. 5 and 6 represent details of the record strip, and Figs. 7, 8 and 9 represent, respectively, diagrams of the clock-controlling mechanism, the passing-train-recording mechanism, and the semaphore-recording mechanism.

Similar characters designate like parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

In the drawings, 10 represents a rail of an ordinary railroad, adjacent to which are a plurality of semaphores 11 distributed along the road at predetermined intervals.

. The semaphore 11 is operated by the ordihas securedv thereto an arm 16 adapted to operate a contact-17 mounted within the chamber 13 so that when the semaphore has been moved into a danger-warning position the contact 17 will make an electrical connection in the circuit 1S. 1n the circuit 18 is a battery 19 and a magnet 20 located within the recording box 14.

The magnet 2O operates an armature 21 pivoted at 22 and provided with an indenting device 23 in its free end, ,a spring 24 maintaining the armature 21 free from the magnet 20 in its normal position with the indenting device 23 removed from the record strip 25 passing over a drum 26.

The drum 26 is operated by any suitable clock mechanism 27, the casing alone of mechanism 27. The drum 26 is provided with a series of projections 33 radiating therefrom and registering With perforations 34 in said record strip to insure a positive movement of said strip with said drum 26 to move thev same positively at a uniform speed beneath the record-producing members 23. a

The record strip is Woundup on a spool 35 mountedv in bearings on the stand 36..

in turn meshes With a gear 42 secured lo the drum 37 and by which said drum is'operated by the clock mechanism to Wind up the strip 25 upon the spool 35 as fast as it passes from the drum 26.

The drum 37 is kept in contact With the strip 25 Wound up on the spool 35 by means of a Weight 43 on the lever 38. To the rail 10 is secured a contact device 44 Which is operated'by the Wheels oi' a passing train to complete the circuit 45 in which a battery 46 and a magnet 47 operates an armature 48 pivoted at 49 to cause a recordingpen 50 to indicate upon the record strip 25 the time and length of duration of the passing of each train that passes along the rail 10. The Wheels of said passing train operate the contact device 44 to cause the pen 50 to make a series of dots or dashes on the strip 25, said dots or dashes indicating the nature or species of the train passing and the duration of passing. For instance, if an express train passes, the train passing over the contact device 44 at a rapid rate would indicate upon the strip 25 a series of dots close together,

\ each dot representing a Wheel of the train passing. The number of dots upon the line would indicate the number of Wheels passing over the rail and the length of the dots indicated on said strip would indicate the time it took said train to pass (see Fig. 5). The rate of speed of an accommodation train would be much'slower and as a consequence the marks made by the passing train Would be short dashes and the length of the line on said strip would be greater for the same number ofI cars, substantially as indicated at the right of Fig. 6. A freight train pass? ing would move so much more slowly that the marks made by the record-producing device-Would be in the nature of long dashes as indicated at the left of Fig. 6. It is obvious therefore that in this device the record-producing device will indicate uponthe record strip the nature or species of every train that passes a given point.

The record strip 25 has imprinted thereon suitable marks designating the periods of time, such as days, hours, miuutes and parts of minutes, as shown in' Figs.-,5and 6, and the strip 25 must be operated by the clock mechanism 27 so that at a given time, say 10.40 a. m., January 1, 1901, the markon said strip indicating that exact time would be'immediately beneath the record-producing devices, so that if, at that exacttime, a train passes over the rail 10 the record-producing device 50 would operate to mark upon said stripthat at that time a train commencedto pass over the rail 10.

The record strip 25 must move beneath the record-producing device with the same speed as the regulating clock 51 in the central station 52 so that in one hours'time there will pass beneath said record-producing device as much of said strip 25 as has imprinted thereon the divisions of time equal to one hour. This being the case, arecord is made upon the strip 25 not only of the time When the train commenced to pass over the contact device 44 but also records the'eXact time when the last truck passed over said Contact device.

It will therefore be seen from the foregoing that not only is the exact time of the passing of a train marked upon said record strip 25 but the exact time that the signal or other device operates is also marked upon said strip 25 so that at any time should occasion require, this strip Would testify as to the fact of the exact position of any Warning signal when the train passed said signal or other Warning device. If, for instance, the danger signal Was down, which should be a Warning for an engine driver to stop and not pass the danger point and said engine driver should ignore this Warning signal and pass the signal when the dangersignal was down, a record of this fact Would be indicated upon this strip inasmuch as the markings on said stri for the operation of the train and the slgnal would overlap each other. Should, however, the danger signal be up and give no Warning signal to an engine driver, and he should pass the-danger signal and immediately thereupon While the train Was still passing, the danger signal would operate, this fact would be indicated upon the strip and thereby relieve the engine driver from any responsibility for 'accidents which might occur. A f

In order to prevent the destruction of evidence in case an accident should occur by destroying the recording systemat the point of operation of a signal or other device, a duplicate recording system for each signal or other danger-warning device is installed at a central station and the same record is kept on this recording mechanism as is kept onl the record member attached to said se'na-. phore, so that in case one lof,the.recording mechanisms should be detached the', duplicate record at a point considerably removed -fr said signal would still be in evidence. 'Moreover, at the central station, by having a duplicate recording mechanism for each semaphore or other device for the regulation of the movement of trains an operator stationed therein could readily keep tabs on the movement of all trains along the line, regulating to better advantage the movement of these trains by informing the engine drivers when it was safe to make better time and when they should decrease their speed.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

l. Means for automatically recording the operations of a device for regulating the movements of trains, associated with means for automatically recording the passage of trains by a chosen point in proximity to the said regulating device, the recording device or devices being of such a character as to show the time relationship of the respective acts thus recorded.

2. The combination with a railway signal adapted to control the movement of trains, of two recording devices, two record member supporting elements; a single mechanism for continuously operating Tsaid record supporting elements in unison; and means operated by said signal for simultaneously producing the same record bv each of said recording devices on each of said record members.

3. The combination with a railway signal adapted to control the movement of trains, of two revoluble spools for supporting a record s trip, a revoluble drum over which said strip passes interposed between said cording upon said strip the time a train passes.

4. The combination with a railway signal adapted to control the movement of trains, of two revoluble spools for supporting a recordstrip, a revoluble drum over which said strip is adapted to pass interposed between said spools, a device for producing a record upon Said strip, apressure roller bearing upon the surface of said strip, and clock mechanism for operating said roller to revolve said spools and wind up the strip thereon.

5. The combination with a railway signal adapted to control the movement of trains, of two revoluble spools for supporting a record strip,"a revoluble drum over whichsaid strip is adapted to pass interposed between said spools, means for revolving one spool to wind up said strip, a brake upon the other spool to prevent too rapid unwinding of the strip thereon, a device for producing a record upon said strip, and means actuated by the movement of the signal for operating said record-producing device.

Signed. by us at Boston, Massachusetts, this 27 th day of January, 1904.

NAT'HANIEL LOMBARD. WALTER E. LOMBARD. Witnesses:

NATHAN C. LOMBARD, 2nd, EDNA C. CLEVELAND. 

